After many years of struggling, I finally came to the realization that sales is simply not a systematic, “system-building” activity in the same way as engineering, and that sales gurus try to make their jobs look more like ours because ... well... they’re good at selling! They’ve figured out that we associate a certain vocabulary (e.g. “process”, “data” ...) with rigor and reliability.
Once you stop seeing sales as a system whose laws you study and turn to your advantage, you come to the underwhelming realization that sales is field work. It’s operational. There is no big trick, only small ones.
With that in mind:
- have you tried going to climbing gyms and showing people your product?
- are there big events or conferences for climbers? (Yes, I know COVID is a factor, here.)
- have you tried calling a bunch of rock climbing gyms and asking what it would take to sell your product at the front desk?
The short story is that sales is costly in time, and you kind of have to live with that until you build a distribution network. Pick up the phone, or better yet, go in person. The good news is that you don’t have to be selling per se. Just go places and ask for help.
P.S. - a few additional thoughts come to mind.
1. I think social media can actually work for niche consumer products like this. Go to your gym, have people try your product, and ask them how they like it. Video tape it and stick it on YouTube. Take pictures of people doing cool stuff, slap your logo on it and put it on Instagram. This is how you start branding. Baby steps.
2. Give out samples at a competition and include “technical” documentation about how and when to use your product. This will pique everyone’s curiosity. Everybody wants to be knowledgeable about their equipment and nobody wants to look clueless. People will read it and remember the brand if only to justify why they use something else. How do you think I know about Rust?
Again: it’s operational work. You spend a lot of time doing. It’s not like programming where you solve problems once and they’re gone forever. No sales library, I’m afraid :)